UNC-CH names David Routh vice chancellor for development

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — David Routh, managing director for U.S. Trust/Bank of America Private Wealth Management in Raleigh and former director of gift planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named UNC’s vice chancellor for development.

The hiring of Routh, who begins work October 14, concludes a turbulent year for fundraising at the UNC triggered by a scandal involving his predecessor, Matt Kupec, that led to the resignations of Kupec and of Holden Thorp as chancellor.

After he resigned but before he stepped down in June, Thorp named Julia Sprunt Grumbles, a former corporate vice president at Turner Broadcasting, as interim vice chancellor for development. Grumbles stepped down earlier this month.

And in January, Elizabeth Dunn retired as senior associate vice chancellor for university advancement at UNC-CH. That position still is vacant.

Carol Folt, former interim president of Dartmouth who became UNC’s chancellor on July 1, announced Routh’s appointment today in an email message to the UNC community.

With a new chancellor and vice chancellor, UNC is expected to move ahead with planning for a long-delayed comprehensive campaign that at one time was expected to total $3 billion.

Routh, a UNC-CH graduate, also will be chief executive of the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation Inc., a nonprofit that receives gifts on behalf of the University, its schools and units.

He has spent the last 17 years serving individuals, families and their charitable interests, including colleges and universities, private foundations and charitable trusts.

At UNC, Routh was director of gift planning in central development from 2006 to 2009 during the school’s last major fundraising campaign, which raised a record-high $2.38 billion over eight years.

He is vice chair of the Board of Visitors for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and chair of its Capital Campaign Planning Committee.

A native of Greensboro, Routh is a 1982 UNC-CH graduate, with bachelor’s degrees in economics and religious studies.